EUGENE, Ore. – It was a good day for California and its National Player of the Year candidate Collin Morikawa on Tuesday at the Pac-12 Championships as both took over the lead heading into fourth and final round action Wednesday at the Eugene Country Club with the finishing holes to be televised live by Pac-12 Networks beginning at 2 pm PT. Morikawa (68-70-64 – 202, -11) set the tone Tuesday when he holed out with a wedge from 100 yards out for an eagle on the first hole on his way to a seven-under par round of 64 that was one off his career-best.

"Starting the round off with an eagle is always exciting and it got the round started off nicely," said Morikawa, who also chipped in for a birdie from 18 feet on the 15th hole. "Overall, I kept the ball in front of me today and gave myself a lot of birdie looks. There's a lot of momentum from today heading into tomorrow for myself and the team so we just need to keep sticking to our game plan and execute."



Cal (357-350-343 – 1050, -15) will be looking for both its first team and individual Pac-12 titles since current PGA TOUR pro Max Homa won individual medalist honors and led the Golden Bears to a victory at the 2013 Pac-12 Championships at The Los Angeles Country Club. Cal won its only other Pac-12 team title at Trysting Tree Golf Club the previous season in Corvallis in 2012, while Homa's 2013 victory was the third by a Cal individual with the first two by Charlie Wi (1995) and current assistant coach Eric Mina (2010).

In addition to his eagle on the first hole, Morikawa had six birdies on the par-three 12th; the par-four ninth, 10th, 15th and 17th; and the par-five sixth. He got to seven-under par for the round and 12-under for the tournament before giving one stroke back with a bogey on the par-four 18th.

Cal's 12-under par team score Tuesday was the best of the day by five strokes and the best by the Bears at the Pac-12 Championships since Homa's course-record nine-under par 61 led Cal to a 12-under par round of 338 in 2013's opening round. All six players in Tuesday's lineup posted under-par scores with Kaiwen Liu firing a two-under 69 while the quartet of Sebastian Crampton, Jamie Cheatham, KK Limbhasut and James Song each checked in with a one-under 70.

"For all us to shoot under par shows our depth," Morikawa said.

All six Cal players are in the top 30 on the player leaderboard after 54 holes with Liu (69-73-69 – 211, -2) tied for eighth, Crampton (73-69-70 – 212, -1) tied for 13th, Cheatham (73-71-70 – 214, +1) tied for 20th, Limbhasut (77-68-70 – 215, +2) tied for 24th and Song (74-72-70 – 216, +3) tied for 28th.

Morikawa will begin Wednesday's final 18 holes of action with a one-stroke lead over Utah's Kyler Dunkle (70-64-69 – 203, -10) while Cal is three strokes ahead of UCLA (353-352-348 – 1053, -12) and four in front of Stanford (359-346-349 – 1054, -11).

The trio of teams are the only ones under par and scheduled to play together in the last group for the second consecutive day with the first of six threesome starting from the first tee at 9:06 am PT and the final threesome including Morikawa at 10:01 am PT. The first tee times Wednesday from both the first and 10th tees is 8 am PT.

"We played really well today," Alex and Marie Shipman Director of Men's Golf Walter Chun said. "It's nice to be at the top of the leaderboard heading into tomorrow, but UCLA and Stanford will right at our heels. We have to play our games and stick to our game plan."

More …

• Morikawa is looking for his fifth career victory, second of the season and first career Pac-12 Championships title with his previous top finish a tied for sixth showing in 2017
• Morikawa is looking to extend his strings of top-seven finishes to all 10 of his events this season, as well as his consecutive top-10 showings to 16 and top-20 efforts to 23 dating back to the last two campaigns, respectively
• Liu played his final five holes in two-under par with three birdies coming on the par-four 14th and 17th, as well as the par-five 16th and one bogey on the par-four 15th after beginning his round with 13 consecutive pars
• Crampton's round included three birdies (9, 11, 17) and two bogeys (8, 10), all on par-fours
• Cheatham had a three-under 31 on the first nine holes with a pair of back-to-back birdies twice on par-four holes (3, 4; 8, 9) and one bogey on the par-five sixth before a back-nine two-over par 39 that included three bogeys (12, 15, 17) and a single birdie on the par-five 16th
• Limbhasut birdied two of the course's three par-fives (6, 16) and had another on the par-four third while his bogeys came on the par-four eighth and 18th
• Song had another relatively wild round that included five birdies (1, 4, 6, 12, 13) that were second on the team Tuesday behind Morikawa's six but also the squad's only double bogey on the par-three fifth and a pair of bogeys on the par-four eighth and 15th
• The Pac-12 Championships is the first and one of only two 72-hole events scheduled for Cal during the 2018-19 season with the other the NCAA Championships

PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS LEADERBOARDS
(After 2 Of 3 Days, 2 Of 4 Rounds, 36 Of 72 Holes)
Eugene Country Club (Par 71, 7044 Yards)
 
TEAM
1. California (357-350-343 – 1050, -15); 2. UCLA (353-352-348 – 1053, -12); 3. Stanford (359-346-349 – 1054, -11); 4. USC (359-354-360 – 1073, +8); 5. Oregon (364-353-357 – 1074, +9); T6. Arizona State (369-354-356 – 1079, +14); T6. Utah (365-351-363 – 1079, +14); 8. Arizona (367-364-356 – 1087, +22); 9. Washington (362-364-363 – 1089, +24); 10. Colorado (358-359-377 – 1094, +29); 11. Oregon State (381-355-377 – 1113, +48); 12. Washington State (382-375-384 – 1141, +76)
 
PLAYER – INDIVIDUAL LEADER
1. Collin Morikawa – California (68-70-64 – 202, -11)
 
PLAYER – CALIFORNIA INDIVIDUALS
1. Collin Morikawa (68-70-64 – 202, -11); T8. Kaiwen Liu (69-73-69 – 211, -2); T13. Sebastian Crampton (73-69-70 – 212, -1); T20. Jamie Cheatham (73-71-70 – 214, +1); T24. KK Limbhasut (77-68-70 – 215, +2); T28. James Song (74-72-70 – 216, +3)